The wise words of Lance Armstrong

So you ride you 13th Tour de France for a total of 2263 miles in 20 days over cobblestones, through the Pyrenees and Alps and crash a few times. When the race is over what is the first thing on your mind?

"I need a cold beer," said Lance Armstrong

Cheers to Lance & cold beer!!!!!

(Yes I am well aware this post is gratuitous - but it is my blog so too bad)

Beer Bloggers' "Tour De Dane" to Dylan Day

We Beer Bloggers took a little road trip today from the Isthmus to Middleton to the Capital Brewery. As you can see (from the awesome gear Fortney is sporting) it was a SERIOUS ride. .

It was Dylan Day at the Beer garden. We sat outside, had some fresh from the source Supper Club and listened to some good (and some not good) music. I even met a nice fellow from Uruguay who liked my shirt. He promised to say hi to Diego Forlan for me next time he is home.

And then - we realized our terrible mistake - that we still had to get on our bikes and ride a long way home in the hot sun. We sat a little longer and mustered the will to get back in the saddle.

We thought we may have been hallucinating this - but nope it was on my camera. A table away was a dude impersonating a professional tennis player.

I just stole this picture from my friend Dave's blog (yep poaching already - ran out of original ideas in my 1st month of blogging?). But I thought it needed to be here because it embodies exactly how one is supposed to drink a cold can of Supper Club. Cold can + beach = complete summer package. Sigh - wish I was sitting in the chair next to him with one in my hand too. hats off to Dr. Dave. The man lives the good life.

La Fete de Marquette

This weekend marked the second of the Madison summer music festivals on the Isthmus, La Fete de Marquette. This is now a pretty big festival - with plenty of Wisconsin beer flowing and lots of yummy food options.

The beer tents were servinc Capital Brewery (and New Belgium form Colorado). While the testers (aka our friends) were noy big fans of the U.S. Pale Ale, they determined that Supper Club, Amber and Island Wheat were all good festival beer choices. (All 3 went well with the delish food from Jamerica and Lao Laan-Xaang)

Here's some pics to make you jealous if you didn't join us. (we even rode the rickity ferris wheel)

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Moon Man - the Official Beer of Matt's B-day 2010!!!

July 7th was Mr. Fortney's Birthday, so a bunch of friends got together to celebrate by watching Spain beat Germany! The official beverage was Fortney's favorite new Wisconsin brew, New Glarus' Moon Man.

Fortney's review:

New Glarus' Moon Man (No Coast Pale Ale)

"Nice hoppy fruity aroma. Even bodied and hoppy with a slight bite to the finish. On the lighter side. Easy drinking. Perfect to take the edge off a muggy summer day!"

5 mug rating from Fortney (he may be a little generous - but it was his birthday)

We don't understand the name with the paw print logo (see pic). But - whatever - it's a good beer. It should also be noted that Moon Man ranked consistently high amongst the participants of July 3rd's Snit Night.

Bottom line: Moon Man is a good New Glarus addition - hope it sticks around!!!!

Here's some pics from the festivities:

The Inaugural Snit Night was a success!!!

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5 of the 8 contenders completed the challenge and sampled all 27 Wisconsin taps at the Old Fashioned and 3 finished with a Schlitz!!!!

The beer ratings have not been tallied yet - but Hopalicious, Big Slick Stout, Lakefront IPA and Moon Man were clear favorites. There was also consensus that the Knotstock & Leinenkugal's Summer Shandy were - um - not so great... Quantity-wise - we determined 5 snits = 1 pint.

Best Sash award - goes to Tony Gibart. Clear winner - looked like a sling. . .would come in handy if you took a spill after too many snits.

Snit Master Award - officially me - but I'm going to share with Matt & Tony who were right there with me until the end!!!

Best negative comment - Matt Fortney said Summer Shandy tastes like "country time lemonade powder in a glass of well water".

Welcome to the Madison Beer Blog

A couple of us Madisonians decided that the many Wisconsin beers obtainable in the city of Madison should be regularly tasted and rated. We have a ridiculous # of Wisconsin beers to choose from - made by the 72 active Wisconsin breweries. So we will be regularly trying out old favorites and new contenders and giving you our opinions.

The rankings will range from 1 to 5 mugs rating. 5 mugs being a truly awesome pint of beer!

And to kick it off tomorrow we are hosting the Inaugural Snit Night at the Old Fashioned to see how many of their 29 Wisconsin taps we can sample in one sitting. Hold tight and we will report back soon!